October 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The EPA is determining that the Providence (All of Rhode Island) moderate 1997 8-hour ozone nonattainment area has attained the 1997 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone. This determination is based upon complete, quality-assured, certified ambient air monitoring data that show the area has monitored attainment of the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS for the 2007-2009 monitoring period. Preliminary data available to date for the 2010 ozone season is consistent with continued attainment. Under the provisions of EPA's ozone implementation rule, the requirements for this area to submit an attainment demonstration, a reasonable further progress plan, contingency measures, and other planning State Implementation Plans related to attainment of the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS shall be suspended for so long as the area continues to attain the 1997 ozone NAAQS. In addition, EPA is determining that this area has attained the 1997 ozone NAAQS as of June 15, 2010, its applicable attainment date.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) for 72 hours. This action is necessary to fully use the 2010 total allowable catch (TAC) of pollock specified for Statistical Area 630 of the GOA.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for Atka mackerel in the Eastern Aleutian District and the Bering Sea subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) for vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access fishery. This action is necessary to fully use the 2010 total allowable catch (TAC) of Atka mackerel in these areas specified for vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access fishery.

This document corrects a final rule that was published in the Federal Register on October 5, 2010 (75 FR 61321). The final rule amends the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) regulations to incorporate by reference the latest revisions of two previously incorporated regulatory guides. This document is necessary to include certification in the rule that the NRC has complied with the requirements of the Congressional Review Act. This information was inadvertently omitted from the final rule.

EPA is proposing to approve a revision to a State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the state of Missouri. The purpose of this revision is to update the Springfield City Code and is part of ongoing SIP maintenance to assure that outdated local codes and ordinances do not remain in the SIP. The revision reflects updates to the Missouri statewide rules, and will ensure consistency between the applicable local agency rules and the Federally approved rules.

This action proposes how EPA will address the residual risk and technology reviews conducted for two national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP), and this action is a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking for an October 2008 action that proposed how EPA would address the residual risk and technology reviews for four NESHAP. The six NESHAP include 16 source categories, 12 of which are the subject of residual risk and technology reviews in this package. This action proposes to modify the existing emissions standards for eight source categories in three of the six NESHAP to address certain emission sources not currently regulated under these standards. It also proposes for all six NESHAP to address provisions related to emissions during periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction. Finally, this action proposes changes to two of the six NESHAP to correct editorial errors, make clarifications, or address issues with implementation or determining compliance.

The Coast Guard will enforce a segment of the Safety Zone, Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan including Des Plaines River, Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal, Chicago River, Calumet-Saganashkee Channel on all waters of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal from Mile Marker 296.1 to Mile Marker 296.7 from 6 a.m. on October 4, 2010 through 6 p.m. on October 11, 2010 and from 6 a.m. on November 3, 2010 through 6 p.m. on November 5, 2010. This action is necessary to protect the waterways, waterway users and vessels from hazards associated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' installation of parasitic structures which will help control the spread of aquatic nuisance species that might devastate the waters in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. During the enforcement period, entry into, transiting, mooring, laying-up or anchoring within the enforced area of this safety zone by any person or vessel is prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port, Sector Lake Michigan, or his or her designated representative.

PBGC is extending to November 12, 2010, the comment period on its proposed rule to provide guidance on the applicability and enforcement of ERISA section 4062(e), which provides for reporting of and liability for certain substantial cessations of operations by employers that maintain single-employer plans.

By order dated October 4, 2010 (Release No. 33-9149, 34- 63031), the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') stayed from November 15, 2010 until the resolution of the petition for review in Business Roundtable, et al. v. SEC, No. 10-1305 (D.C. Cir., filed Sept. 29, 2010) (``Business Roundtable''), the effective and compliance dates of amendments to the federal proxy and related rules that the Commission adopted to facilitate the effective exercise of shareholders' traditional state law rights to nominate and elect directors to company boards of directors. We are publishing this release in the Federal Register to provide additional notice regarding the change in effective and compliance dates of the amendments.

This document directs that a referendum be conducted among eligible California, Arizona, and New Mexico pistachio producers to determine whether they favor continuance of the marketing order regulating the handling of pistachios grown in California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

EPA is taking final action to approve a request from the State of Texas to redesignate the Beaumont/Port Arthur (BPA) Texas ozone nonattainment area to attainment of the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). EPA is making a final determination that the BPA nonattainment area has attained the 1997 8- hour ozone NAAQS, based on complete, quality-assured, and certified ambient air quality monitoring data for 2006-2008. Preliminary data available for 2009 and 2010 show that the area continues to attain the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS. In finalizing its approval of the redesignation request, EPA also approves, as a revision to the BPA State Implementation Plan (SIP), a 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance plan that includes a 2021 Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget (MVEB). EPA is also approving the BPA area's 2002 base year emissions inventory as part of the BPA SIP. EPA also is approving as part of the BPA SIP, the Texas Clean-Fuel Vehicle (CFV) Program Equivalency Demonstration. EPA finds that with final approval of these revisions, the area has a fully approved SIP that meets all of the 1997 8-hour ozone requirements and 1-hour ozone anti-backsliding requirements under section 110 and Part D of the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) that are applicable for purposes of redesignation. EPA is also approving a determination that the BPA area is meeting the 1-hour ozone standard based upon three years of complete, quality-assured, and certified ambient air quality monitoring data for 2006-2008. Preliminary data available for 2009 and 2010 show that the area continues to attain the standard. Additionally, EPA is taking final action to approve the post-1996 Rate of Progress (ROP) plan's contingency measures, the substitute control measures for the failure-to-attain contingency measures, and the removal from the Texas SIP of a 1-hour ozone failure-to-attain contingency measure, a volatile organic compound (VOC) SIP rule for marine vessel loading, as meeting the requirements of section 110(l) and part D of the Act. EPA also is providing clarification of an earlier separate EPA rulemaking action approving the Section 110(a)(1) Maintenance Plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone standard for the El Paso 1997 8-hour attainment area.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as:

Section 766 of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act'') requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') to adopt an interim final rule for the reporting of security-based swaps entered into before July 21, 2010, the terms of which had not expired as of that date (``pre-enactment security-based swap transactions''), within 90 days of the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act. Pursuant to this requirement, the Commission today is adopting an interim final temporary rule that requires specified counterparties to pre-enactment security-based swap transactions to report certain information relating to pre-enactment security-based swaps to a registered security-based swap data repository or to the Commission by the compliance date established in the security-based swap reporting rules required under Sections 3C(e) and 13A(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act''),\1\ or within 60 days after a registered security- based swap data repository commences operations to receive and maintain data concerning such security-based swaps, whichever occurs first and report information relating to pre-enactment security-based swaps to the Commission upon request. The Commission also is issuing an Interpretive Note to the rule that states that counterparties that may be required to report to the Commission will need to preserve information pertaining to the terms of these pre-enactment security- based swaps.

This document contains a final regulation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that requires the disclosure of certain plan and investment-related information, including fee and expense information, to participants and beneficiaries in participant-directed individual account plans (e.g., 401(k) plans). This regulation is intended to ensure that all participants and beneficiaries in participant-directed individual account plans have the information they need to make informed decisions about the management of their individual accounts and the investment of their retirement savings. This document also contains conforming changes to another regulation relating to plans that allow participants to direct the investments of their individual accounts. These regulations will affect plan sponsors, fiduciaries, participants and beneficiaries of participant-directed individual account plans, as well as providers of services to such plans.

The EPA is amending the requirements for particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program by adding maximum allowable increases in ambient pollutant concentrations (``increments'') and two screening tools, known as the Significant Impact Levels (SILs) and a Significant Monitoring Concentration (SMC) for PM2.5. The SILs for PM2.5 are also being added to two other New Source Review (NSR) rules that regulate the construction and modification of any major stationary source locating in an attainment or unclassifiable area, where the source's emissions may cause or contribute to a violation of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS).

The National Park Service (NPS) is issuing this interim general rule governing demonstrations and the sale and distribution of printed matter for most of the National Park System as well as request for comments. This rule revises the definition of what constitutes a demonstration and exempts individuals and small groups from the requirement to obtain a permit for demonstrations and the sale or distribution of printed matter, consistent with the decisions in the Boardley v. Department of the Interior litigation. This rule also refines how applications are processed and prohibits the harassment of visitors and obstruction of public passageways.

Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and modified BFEs are made final for the communities listed below. The BFEs and modified BFEs are the basis for the floodplain management measures that each community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 610 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) for 72 hours. This action is necessary to fully use the 2010 total allowable catch (TAC) of pollock specified for Statistical Area 610 of the GOA.

The EPA is proposing to partially approve and partially disapprove revisions of the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ, or Commission) on January 3, 2000, and July 31, 2002, as supplemented on August 5, 2009. These revisions are to regulations of the TCEQ which relate to application and permitting procedures for grandfathered electric generating facilities (EGFs). The revisions address a mandate by the Texas Legislature under Senate Bill 7 to achieve nitrogen oxide (NOX), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM) emission reductions from grandfathered EGFs. These emissions reductions will contribute to achieving attainment and help ensure attainment and continued maintenance of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter in the State of Texas. As a result of these mandated emissions reductions, in accordance with section 110(l) of the Federal Clean Air Act, as amended (the Act, or CAA), partial approval of these revisions will not interfere with attainment of the NAAQS, reasonable further progress, or any other applicable requirement of the Act. EPA is proposing that the revisions, but for a severable provision, meet section 110, part C, and part D of the Federal Clean Air Act (the Act or CAA) and EPA's regulations. Therefore, EPA is proposing to approve the revisions but for a severable portion that allows collateral emissions increases of carbon monoxide (CO) created by the imposition of technology controls to be permitted under the State's Standard Permit (SP) for Pollution Control Projects (PCP). EPA is proposing to disapprove this severable portion concerning the issuance of a PCP SP for the CO collateral emissions increases. EPA is taking comments on this proposal and plans to follow with a final action.

EPA proposed to determine that the Eagle River nonattainment area in Alaska attained the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than or equal to a nominal ten micrometers (PM10) as of December 31, 1994.

This document announces an extension of the time period for submitting written comments on the notice of proposed rulemaking, regarding the Energy Conservation Program: Certification, Compliance, and Enforcement for Consumer Products and Commercial and Industrial Equipment. The comment period is extended to October 29, 2010.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is adopting technical amendments to Forms N-CSR and N-SAR under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940 in connection with amendments to Section 13(c) of the Investment Company Act that were included in the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010.

This document constitutes OSHA's official interpretation of the term feasible administrative or engineering controls as used in the applicable sections of OSHA's General Industry and Construction Occupational Noise Exposure standards. Under the standard, employers must use administrative or engineering controls rather than personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce noise exposures that are above acceptable levels when such controls are feasible. OSHA proposes to clarify that feasible as used in the standard has its ordinary meaning of capable of being done. The Agency intends to revise its current enforcement policy to reflect this interpretation. The Agency solicits comments from interested parties on this interpretation.

This document contains proposed regulations providing guidance relating to certain provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) that apply to hybrid defined benefit pension plans. These regulations would provide guidance on changes made by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, as amended by the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008. These regulations would affect sponsors, administrators, participants, and beneficiaries of hybrid defined benefit pension plans. This document also provides a notice of a public hearing on these proposed regulations.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD requires inspecting the wings for internal and external damage, repairing any damage found, installing an operational limitation placard in the cockpit, adding limitations to the flight manual supplement, and reporting the results of the inspection to the FAA if damage is found. This AD was prompted by a wing overload failure and by reports of cracks in the upper wing skins on certain Cessna airplanes that are or have ever been modified by Aviation Enterprises Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) SA02055AT, SA02056AT, SA02307AT, or SA02308AT. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct damage in the wings and to prevent overload failure of the wing due to the installation of the STCs. Damage in the wing or overload failure of the wing could result in structural failure of the wing, which could result in loss of control.